…Shinjuku district of Tokyo is a new spot for me. I have not drunk alcohol since August of 2000 and do not plan to ever drink again. But the atmosphere here is overwhelming.

Visualize this: 8 foot wide pathways snaking through a pocket of Shinjuku, not far from where my Red Light photos were taken. You really need to be here to feel the moment of stepping into a truly unique place, different and apart from anywhere else. Countless, probably hundreds, of tiny bars line these passageways. Some are so incredibly tight no more than 5 people, including bartender, can fit inside.

You don’t have to be a drinker to appreciate the completely raw, organic nature of this place. As much as I love EPCOT Center, there is something much more powerful about being within an authentic neighborhood–created by a diverse assortment of Japanese (even at least one bar that is Japanese only) and not a corporation out to make a happening entertainment district.

Photographs cannot do it a bit of justice but I stayed out later tonight and took some to dispatch out to you good people. Enjoy…

This place below is the coolest place of all time! The amount of visual and audio stimulation my boy, the owner, has packed into his space that literally cannot fit more than 10 people, is mind boggling: Freddy Kreuger’s knifed hand here, Chucky there, extremely gory low budget horror flick “Brain Dead” playing, photographs of topless women on the walls and a “Cannibal Holocaust” poster behind me as Slipknot blasts at us from speakers.

Insane!